Candle Tunnelling | What Is it? Common Causes? How To Fix It? How To Prevent it?

What causes candle tunneling? 

Candel tunneling happens when only a small portion of the wax around the wick melts while the candle is burning.

Instead of having the entire surface of the wax melt evenly, it will appear as though the flame is burrowing into the candle and creating what resembles a small, vertical tunnel — hence the name.

Whilst visually unpleasant, and leading to wasted, unburnt wax, candle tunneling is completely normal and, if you treat your candle correctly, avoidable.

Common cause of candle tunneling ? 

Irregular candle burning is a common cause for tunneling. Candles should always burn for long enough so that the wax pool has enough time to reach the edges of the candle vessel.

Extinguishing a candle too early may lead to the formation of a tunnel. You should allow you candle to burn for 3-4 hours each light. 

How to correct a tunneled candle ?

There are a number of ways to fix a candle which has tunneled. You can use a heat gun to blast the edges of unmelted wax. This will even the wax to even out.

Another method is the tin foil method. Essentially, you can use tin-foil to create a dome around the top of your container candle, reflecting the heat back onto the unburnt wax, causing it to liquefy and join the already melting wax pool.